Live Review : Midnight + Cyclone + High Command @ Rebellion, Manchester on April 16th 2024

Some shows loom large in the memory for many moons to come. Midnight’s inaugural visit to this fair city back in June ‘22 is one such instant. Tales of masked men hanging from support beams and unheard-of reserves of ravaged energy have been passed around the metal fraternity ever since. It has achieved such a legendary status (of course we were there, our review can be found here) that their return to Manchester less than two years later has become something of an event. Rebellion is impressively packed out for a Tuesday, with an audience made up of those who were lucky enough to be in the Academy 3 24 months ago and their mates who have been dragged along to enjoy the spectacle.

Live Review : Blind Guardian + The Night Eternal @ Academy, Manchester on April 13th 2024

The signs of a good time had by all is when the echoes reverberate long into the night. For an hour after Blind Guardian exit the stage, the refrain “Valhalla, Deliverance, Why've you ever forgotten me” can be heard being sung by the dispersing masses as they meander away from the Academy down the Oxford Road corridor. It may not have made much sense to the glammed-up masses heading off to identikit soulless nightclubs, but it was an indication that Mancunia had a rare and thoroughly wondrous visitation from the Teutonic gods of power metal.

Live Review : Fury + Bastette + Pulverise @ The Ferret, Preston on April 12th 2024

There seems to be something of a rock renaissance in the Preston live music scene with this the fourth gig ROCKFLESH has reviewed in the town in recent months. At the forefront of the charge is The Ferret, long a bastion for live music and until recently under threat of being lost, but now fighting back with a vengeance. And tonight, it plays host to a three-band bill encapsulating three very different branches of the rock family tree.

Live Review : Blind Channel + Ghøstkid + Rock Band From Hell @ Club Academy, Manchester on April 2nd 2024

For the second time this week ROCKFLESH is dipping a toe into Eurovision territory. Those gritty Finns are determined to give a serious rock boost to the greatest lip-synching competition in the world, and having done so once with the classic power metal and mad costumes that are Lordi they had another go for a younger audience with Blind Channel who provide nu-metal and pretty boys instead. Sadly they only managed to reach 6th place in 2021, but that did give them an avenue to reach bigger crowds in other countries so here we are in a sold-out Club Academy with twice the capacity of their last sojourn to Manchester. This is obviously important to them as it gets mentioned a couple of times during the course of the evening. Stick with it boys, next stop the Ritz eh?

Live Review : Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators @ AO Arena, Manchester on April 2nd 2024

On the passing of Lemmy, Slash inherited the mantle of being the true living embodiment of rock 'n' roll. If you want to dress as a cool rocker you simply adorn yourself with a curly black wig and an oversized top hat and Saul Hudson’s your uncle you are instantly recognisable as a cool rock n’ roll dude. If you want to give your showstopping Oscar number a shot of scuzzy cool, then all you do is pick up the phone to Mr. Slash and instantaneously it has oodles of rock 'n' roll street cred. Our Slash has become a cultural phenomenon. An instantly recognisable persona that transcends the bands he is involved with and the shackles of his back catalogue. The arena is reassuringly full and it is obvious that its temporary inhabitants are here for the myth as opposed to the material.

Live Review : Lordi + All For Metal + Crimson Veil @ Academy 2, Manchester on April 1st 2024

Metal’s inexplicable love affair with Eurovision seems to be baked into our psyche. In recent years many “big” names from our world (The Rasmus, Blind Channel, Voyager and Lords of the Lost) have taken part and even bigger names (Avantasia and Keep of Kaslin) have unsuccessfully tried to be selected for their respective home nations. This is alongside the fact that every Baltic state entry seems to sound like Evanescence and Italian alt-rockers Maneskin triumphed in 2021 with a ditty that sounded all the world like a shunt job between Rage Against The Machine and Jane's addiction.

Live Review : Acid Reign + Solitary + Wrath Of Man @ The Ferret, Preston on March 29th 2024

The Easter period is steeped in religious traditions and on this Good Friday we are indeed attending church…the church of British thrash metal. Awaiting us is a triple sermon at The Ferret. Nestled in the centre of Preston, it provides an intimate atmosphere for the musical maelstrom about to be unleashed by Acid Reign, 36 years after their last show in this city.

Live review : Creeper + Zetra + NAUT @ Camp and Furnace, Liverpool on March 28th 2024

Creeper/ (ˈkriːpə) / noun. a person or animal that creeps. a plant, such as the ivy or periwinkle, that grows by creeping. That’s the dictionary definition, but the meaning within the rock world is somewhat different, although related. Formed in Southampton in 2014 Creeper are a band who have sneaked into our rock/metal conciousness almost without us noticing, despite them sporting an inordinate amount of black leather and black eyeliner. Tonight is my first time seeing the lords of the new goth, and I’m really not sure what to expect from them. Formed in 2014 they have 3 albums to their name and a history of changing their look and sound for each new release. Descriptions of their live set vary wildly, so the only way to find out is to attend the somewhat cavernous Camp And Furnace and watch them in the (possibly rotting?) flesh.

Live Review : Sunn O))) + Jesse Sykes @ New Century Hall, Manchester on March 28th 2024

As metal fans we tend to view our world as an impenetrable fortress sitting alone in an ocean of splendid isolation. Disconnected from other strands of popular culture. The truth is actually very different, we have many openly flowing land borders with other facets of the musical lexicon. Drone metal and the legendary Sunn O))) specifically is one of those bridging areas.

Live Review : Ugly Kid Joe + The Virginmarys @ Gorilla, Manchester on March 25th 2024

Are you part of the Beavis & Butthead generation? Way back in 1992, the bumbling cartoon twosome took the world by storm. Wikipedia describes them as ”a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humour and love for hard rock and heavy metal”. At the same time, there were several bands around who played to the same schtick – schoolboy humour, teenage angst, love of a party and most of all a fresh, upbeat approach to rock music.

Live Review : Carnifex + Revocation + Aborted + Vexed @ Club Academy, Manchester on March 24th 2024

Another day and another four-headed death metal package rolls into town. However, if you open the bonnet and do a bit of careful inspection you will find that this quadruple bill offers some enticingly distinct delicacies. You see Vexed, Aborted, Revocation and Carnifex represent four very very different aspects of Death Metal’s multiple personalities. This is a comprehensive guided tour through the genre's current state of the nation. It also makes pretty good business sense as each band has its own distinct group of diehard supporters, all of whom have gathered here tonight for some bizarre gathering of the clans.

Live Review : Spike of The Quireboys @ The Vinyl Tap, Preston on March 23rd 2024

Back in the Middle Ages, a Troubadour was someone who turned up in town, told stories, played music, instigated singalongs and entertained the people. Fast forward a few hundred years and things haven’t really changed that much, as tonight, in Preston’s Vinyl Tap, Spike proves he is probably the closest thing to a modern-day Troubadour that the 21st century has to offer.

Live Review : Amaranthe + DragonForce + Infected Rain @ Academy, Manchester on March 23rd 2024

It can’t be an easy job being a gig promoter. Say you’ve got a Swedish power metal outfit on your hands who are famous for their fantasy lyrics and having three vocalists. A great band who have been going (although not with the same lineup) for 25 years. They are good, but they have reached that in-between stage of their career where they are not quite going to sell out a big theatre but are way past the club scene. How are you going to support and market that?

Live Review : Botch + Great Falls @ New Century Hall, Manchester on March 22nd 2024

It is unlikely that you would know of Botch before their improbable resurrection last year. They only visited this country once in their previous existence and never got north of Nottingham. Neither of their full-length albums, “American Nervoso” and “We Are Romans” particularly sold well. However, every bugger that did get the honour of hearing the latter release went off and formed a band. You see Botch continue that fine lineage of acts you've never heard of that begot hundreds that you very much have.

Live Review : Jared James Nichols + McHale’s Permanent Brew @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on March 21st 2024

Blues rock, just like any musical sub-genre is a many headed beast, one where bands are often pigeonholed together into a single category for ease, often having little in common other than a shared musical DNA. And so it is with McHale’s Permanent Brew and Jared James Nichols. Whilst both are firmly rooted in the blues each has a very different approach and sound, and it is their contrasting interpretations of the form that make this evening’s gig so intriguing.

Live Review : Mr. Big + Jared James Nichols @ O2 Ritz, Manchester on March 20th 2024

Supergroups are never designed for longevity. They exist either as a water-treading exercise for name artists to fruitfully pass time whilst they wait for their main bands to reform or as an egotistical wish-fulfilment vehicle allowing musicians from different genres to work together without upsetting the apple cart of their day jobs. In celebrating 35 years of existence Mr. Big are the exception that proves the rule. Long ago they evolved beyond being a musical distraction for their constitute members and instead Mr. Big has become the thing that Billy Sheehan, Paul Gilbert and Eric Martin are now most well-known and revered for. Mr. Big have achieved the thing that very very few supergroups ever aspire to, as a whole they equal more than their individual parts.

Live Review : Bad Touch + The Karma Effect + Electric Black @ The Live Rooms, Chester on March 15th 2024

There’s an old joke that goes “what’s the best thing to come out of Norfolk? The A11!” Tonight though I am here to witness the re-emergence of something else good coming out of Norfolk, the country-tinged blues rock of Bad Touch. They have been around on the circuit for a while, I think I first encountered them well over 10 years ago, and with at least 5 albums under their collective belts their popularity has ebbed and flowed like the tides that erode their home county’s coastline over those years. I don’t think I’ve seen them yet post-covid, so tonight I’m looking forward to getting re-acquainted with them. Enough poetic imagery though, we have bands to watch!

Live Review : Skindred + P.O.D. + As Everything Unfolds @ Academy, Manchester on March 14th 2024

On the eve of their biggest headline show in a packed out Wembley Arena, the award winning, Tik Tok trending powerhouse of UK metal that are Skindred are warming up at a sold out Manchester Academy. As always, Skindred promise to bring their usual high energy party vibes to the masses, and as always, the clientele is a fantastical mix of full-on-metallers, wide-eyed ravers and those of us who happily swing both ways.

Live Review : Filter + Belmondo @ Gorilla, Manchester on March 12th 2024

Tonight’s headliners Filter have very rarely made it across to these shores, but have a loyal and passionate fanbase. Led by one-time Nine Inch Nails guitarist Richard Patrick, Filter mix elements of many different genres, but if you like early noughties industrial rock, with both light and dark aspects, then you’ll find something to enjoy in their vast collection I promise.

Gig ReviewAuthor : Matt Fraser13 March 2024GorillaFilter, Belmondo, Gorilla, Manchester, 2024, Live Review, Matt Fraser, Johann WierzbickiComment

Live Review : Cattle Decapitation + Signs Of The Swarm + 200 Stab Wounds + Vomit Forth @ Rebellion,Manchester on March 9th 2024

We are continually told that guitar music is dead. The mainstream piles on the narrative that rock music has had its day, and it is simply a forgotten genre in its death throes. If this is the case somebody has forgotten to inform the hundreds of multigenerational attendees that have packed out Rebellion for the last couple of nights. The simple fact is that death metal is sticking its finger up at all this "guitar music is out of fashion" nonsense and is becoming more vibrant and important by the day.